It Takes a Thief – Part 35

After a successful day at the firing range, Jason and the team decide to workout. The men find out a little more about Jason’s personal life.

“Been lots of women?” Tim asked.

“A good few. None serious. Hard to settle down and have a real life with a job like mine. Which is one reason I’ve set up my business. So I can retire. Investments and security consultants. I can make a mint. Easier to have a woman in my life then.” He sighed heavily. “Been hankering for some stability. Even thought about a dog.”

“If this works out, you may be able to do all that, Jason. The judge likes you for some reason. She’s willing to look at this as time served. Might even set aside the rest of your sentence if we catch Orchid.”

“What’s been done about that?” He went in his bathroom, leaving the door ajar so they could talk.

“All those people in your living room are looking for her. They’re following tips and leads from all over. The international contingent’s arrived and working in the office and on the street looking for signs of her.”

“She’ll lie low,” Jason said. “Won’t call attention to herself for awhile yet, if she’s smart. I’d go to ground and stay there after this kind of cluster fuck. She blew it good and proper.”

“Got to make me wonder why she didn’t shoot you in the head and finish you off.”

“Been wondering that myself. Why leave it to chance? Not that she didn’t do a good job,” he replied. “I have it on expert authority that I was damn near gone when they found me.”

“Where’d she get you?”

Jason pointed to an area just to the right of his groin and to his left chest. “I had a vest on, though she didn’t know it. She laughed as she shot me. Told me she’d thought of shooting me in the cock, but couldn’t live with herself for destroying something so beautiful. Lousy, two-faced, harridan.”

“Better to kill you instead of blowing off your cock? Weird.”

“And then some. Though once I’d lived through it, I was happy.”

Tim laughed, grabbing his own crotch protectively. “Oh, yeah!”

Taylor knocked on the door, putting her head around when they laughed. She was dressed in the navy suit with a pair of white shorts. Her hair was braided and she carried a towel over her shoulder.

“Ready?” Her weapon was in a shoulder holster.

“I’m set.”

Jason grabbed a towel from the linen closet, tossing it to Tim. He pulled out another for himself and they headed down the spiral stair. The other two men were already working out on the weights when they came down. Alex was spotting Greg on the bench.

Taylor slipped off her shorts and holster. The men got quiet, watching her as the shorts passed her sleek hips.

“Tongues back in your mouths,” she commanded without turning around. “I’m a crack shot and I’m not afraid to us this.”

“Sorry,” they apologized in unison.

“Never saw you this close to naked before,” Greg said quietly. “Damn!”

“I will throw you in the pool,” she told him angrily. “If you ever look at me like that again.”

“I have to look, Tay. But I won’t drool.”

“That’s fair. Take your shirt off,” she countered.

“Huh?”

“If you’re gonna look, I’m gonna look. Shirts off. All of you.”

They complied without protest. Taylor smiled and dove into the pool. She swam laps steadily, smoothly, her lean body making very little turbulence in the pool. She hit the opposite wall doing an interesting flip turn without coming out of the water. Her movement was hypnotic.

The men continued to watch her until Jason realized he’d been standing there, mesmerized, for fully five minutes. He dove in himself, creating much more noise and motion. This seemed to break the spell for the others, who found things to do in the gym.

“We’re leaving now,” the head technician told Tim from the doorway. “We got everything checked. Place is clean as a whistle. The peepholes are in and we got the chip to Spence since you didn’t go by the office.”

“Forgot all about it,” Tim smacked himself. “Thanks, Toby.”

“No problem. Nice setup. Whoever put this place together knew his shit.”

“He’s in the pool,” Tim nodded toward the water.

“That kid? Hell, I’d like to talk to him sometime. He knows damn near more than me. Impressive.” He nodded. “Catch you later.”

“See you!” Tim half saluted the other man. They were the same rank, but had been friends for years. Toby had earned Tim’s respect more than once.